


Birds (And Bats) Of A Feather

by OliviaRose



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Canon Disabled Character, Pre-New 52
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-06 21:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11044281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OliviaRose/pseuds/OliviaRose
Summary: Damian Wayne had never really had a motherly mother-figure.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Damian needs a good mom and Barbara has a lot of love to give and I'm a sucker for both of them

It starts the first night.  
She sat watching him, as Batman, Nightwing, and Alfred stood in a circle around her. Her eyes were kinder than the rest, and every so often they’d flicker up to Alfred’s, who in turn would nod.  
Robin sat between Damian and the group, kicking his legs and scowling at his phone. His blue eyes were narrow, and the tap-tap-tapping of his boots on the metal bench echoed around the cave.  
Damian tried to make himself look busy, less like he was listening. But he was. He could hear the buzzing of Robin’s phone, and the hushed argument Bruce and Dick were having. Every so often, he’d hear his mother’s name, always spoken with a contempt he could not understand. He fiddled with the edge of his shirt, trying his hardest not to stare at Bruce.  
It was like staring into his reflection in the water, ripples adding age and scars, bags under the eyes and the slight inference of frown lines. His brow keeps furrowing, and every time, a hand comes up to smooth it.   
Nightwing-Dick-was definitely younger. There was a similar spattering of scars across his face, mixed in with the fresh cuts from the night. His blue eyes popped against the dark mask, and the gloved hand on Oracle’s shoulder was protective, even if both seemed that they would not acknowledge it.   
Alfred had the kindest face of the bunch. Weathered with age, but his eyes were still sharp, watching everyone in the cave. Damian was sure he saw everything, that he knew everything, but still, he stood slightly behind the other three, ready, for when he was called on.  
Oracle checked her watch, her bright hair bobbing around her shoulders.   
“Well boys, it’s late, and unlike most of you, I have a day job.” Damian smirks, and Dick leans down to hug her. Bruce lays a hand on her shoulder, and then she’s making her way towards Damian. She smiles at Tim as she passes him, and stops.  
“Hi Damian.” He looks up at her, brow furrowed. She’s still smiling though, and offers her hand. “I’m Barbara. You like animals, right?” He nods. “Have you ever been to a zoo before?” He shakes his head. “Would you like to come with me? We can see the tigers?” He nods.  
“Yes.” His voice is quieter than he’d like it to be, but she grins wider. “Thank you.”  
“Great! I’ll pick you up tomorrow? I already ran it by your dad!” He nods again, and smiles a bit. “Good. I’ll see you then, Damian.” She turns, and Tim rises to meet her.  
“I’ll walk you out.” She nods, and Damian watches the two until they exit the cave, Tim’s hand in hers on the lift up.

He’s quiet on the drive home, stuffed tiger in his lap. He watches Barbara as she drives, hair bouncing against the back of her neck. He can’t stop thinking of her smile, the one that lasted all day, and the ice cream cone she bought him when they first arrived.  
She was nicer than anyone he’d ever met before, smarter too. She was thoroughly different, and yet, there was something comforting and recognizable about her. She’s hyper vigilant, eyes darting between the him and the people behind. But then, she’s quick to reassure, to pull him back with a quick fact about whatever animal is in front of him. Quick to grab his hand when they’re in the crowds, quick to notice how his eyes light up when he sees the tiger in the gift shop.  
The car pulls to a stop, and she turns in her seat.  
“Wanna get dinner?” They’re parked outside of brightly lit restaurant with a fluorescent sign reading “BatBurger” in the window. “Or, you could eat back at the manor?”  
“No, I’ll eat with you.” She smiles, and gets out of the car.  
“Good,” She opens his door, but he’s already undone his seatbelt, and climbs down onto the pavement. He follows her into the loud establishment, the walls papered with Has and question marks. She lets him choose what he wants, in the form of a Bat Mite meal, and orders a burger for herself.  
He leads her to a back corner booth, and holds her chair steady as she lifts out of it. She unwraps her burger quickly, but he takes time to unpack his, setting out the chicken nuggets, fries and soda in front of him. She smiles as he sets out a napkin.  
“You know, Bruce isn’t as scary as he seems.” He looks up at her, half a nugget hanging out of his mouth. “You seemed nervous around him. He’s not as tough as he seems, and he’s really happy to have you here.”  
“Sure.”   
“No, I mean it. He didn’t like me much when I first showed up, but Damian, you’re his flesh and blood. He loves you, he just needs time to show it.”  
“And Dick?”  
“A big softy. Believe me, he’s just, not your mom’s biggest fan. And Tim will warm up to you.” Damian shrugs. “You haven’t even met Cass yet! I think the two of you will get along.” He’s finished now, wiping his hands on the thin brown napkin. “What toy did you get?”  
“Toy?”  
“In your meal! Check the box!” So he does.  
There’s a small Batman figure clutched in his hand, but this one has a small smile painted on. He smiles back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kinda a transition chapter... There's a lot more coming

He starts school, and with that, his weekly dinners with Babs. He begins to look forward to Wednesdays, when she’d come to pick him up, wait for him by the gates, amongst the parents of the other children.  
Everyone around her towers over her, but her hair makes her easy to find. Bright red, short and wild, often clashing with a green shirt. It never fails to make him smile, a foreign sight to his classmates. After a while, he starts to greet her with a hug.   
Sometimes she takes him to a nice diner, or the one across from the police precinct, but sometimes, she takes him back to Batburger, helps him grow his collection of toys. (He has both iterations of Robin now, Nightwing and Batman.)  
She calls him Dami and the librarian in her brings him a new book, way above his reading level, every week, even if he hasn’t had a chance to finish the last one. They talk about them, and she’s always interested in what he has to say, and the stories of him stumping his 6th grade english teacher.  
After a while, she brings her father to meet him. He has a gruff voice, and a bushy mustache, but the family resemblance is still striking. He tells them this, and they both laugh.  
“Thank you, kid, but she looks just like her mother.” They both seems a bit resentful towards it, but Barbara nods in agreement. “But you, heh, you look just like your father! Spitting image of him at your age. A bit more filled out though.”  
Damian swells with pride. His father is the type of man people look up to, respect, that women want and men want to be. He looks like his father. He can hear his mother in his head, laughing. It worked. He worked.  
Barbara throws a fry at him, and he’s pulled back to reality. She’s grinning, and pushes his Bat Mite meal box towards him. He sticks his hand in, and pulls out a figure with long red hair trapped under a black cowl.  
He looks up at her, grinning, and watches her smile falter.

He learns, soon, that she lives in the Clocktower in the middle of the city. While he spends his nights on the rooftops and in the alleys, she watches over the city. And him. She makes sure he knows she is watching out for him.  
Barbara brings him to the platform on the spire, where there’s a beat up deck chair. Colorful graffiti covers the concrete of the spire, and he takes a moment to wonder how someone could get up to this spot, and then he notices. It’s not random. Names of other heroes are splayed colorfully out across the curved surface. He lifts a finger to trace some of them.  
Supergirl. SuperMAN. Wonder Girl(s). Misfit.  
“Dami,” He’s about to trace over a drawing of a small yellow bird when she calls. “Come here a moment, I want to show you something.”  
She’s on the other side of the platform, staring up at the wall. He stands beside her, a hand on her shoulder.  
“What do you see?” He looks closer. A large yellow R, the same one he wears during the night, is sprayed up, with numbers below it. Nightwing sits next to the one, weathered and faded, with a heart dotting the i. Two is blank, as is four, but the four is purple. The two is a standard red. Tim’s Red Robin is after the three, and it’s new, the letters slanted as the notes he leaves in the kitchen always are. There’s a five too, so fresh that Damian can almost smell the paint. She holds out a dark marker to him, and nods to the wall. “Put your name up, Robin. Join the legacy.”  
He falters, suddenly unsure of himself, but moves forward, lets his hand bracket the blank spot by four.  
“What happened to them?” Barbara hums. “Two and four, why aren’t their names up here?” She sighs, and if she hadn’t been in the chair, Damian was sure she would’ve lowered herself down.  
“It’s complicated, Dami, too complicated to worry you with.” I know about death. He wants to scream. I know this isn’t safe. I’m not a dumb kid!  
“What about all of the other names?” He asks instead, and watches her shoulders relax.  
She doesn’t only work with the bats, she tells him, she has a team of her own. One that she created, and looks out for. She calls herself team mom, and he likes that. Mom.  
He starts to stop by the clocktower before he goes home, just to watch her from a distance, make sure she’s ok.  
He watches out for her too.


End file.
